


Anna: The Last Avenger

by Ksmarvelbunch



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe, Angst and Tragedy, Anxiety Disorder, Backstory, Betrayal, Dark Past, Developing Friendships, F/M, Good versus Evil, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mutant Powers, Mystery, No Smut, POV Original Female Character, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Protective Avengers, Psychological Drama, Trauma, Work In Progress, backstabbing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-04-06 20:56:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19070518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ksmarvelbunch/pseuds/Ksmarvelbunch
Summary: What happens when your greatest weakness becomes your greatest strength?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came to me out of NOWHERE one night. I was considering what it would be like for The Avengers to encounter a much more complicated threat immediately following the events of Endgame. In order to get the most out of it, I've decided to change a significant amount of plot points from the film. Tony's alive, Nat's alive, Steve is young and stayed in the present, and Bruce is Bruce (as much as I loved Professor Hulk, I wanted to give Bruce's character a chance to shine). Fair warning, this story is a HELL of a lot more intense than It's Cool, Cause We're Just Friends, but I'm overwhelmingly proud of it. Thank you ALL for your patience, love, and support. This one's for you. Enjoy!  
> -K xx

My glossy eyes flipped open to reveal human figures clouded in sleep. I must’ve been put down somehow. I didn’t think that to be possible given the state I was in, but I had to have been weak enough for them to get to me. My body was pressed against a cold metal table, my arms and legs pinned into place. My chest and forehead displayed a series of medical wiring that led to multiple machines.

“She’s awake!”

A strikingly handsome, blonde man with a prominent jaw line was the first to come into perfect view as he hesitantly loomed over my body.

“W-where am I?” I asked inaudibly.  
“What’s your name, sweetheart?”  
“A-…” The words got caught in my throat, barely able to pass from my tongue. My mouth feeling sour and waterless.  
“Are you able to speak?”  
“A-Anna, sir.” I voiced faintly, my teeth beginning to chatter, “M-my name is A-Anna.”

A much shorter, brunette man with a pair of reading glasses sliding off the bridge of his stout nose came over to view the machines up above me.

“Is she hurt?” The blonde one asked.  
“Not to my knowledge. She doesn’t seem to have any scratches, bruises, or bone breakage. No signs of internal trauma based on these scans.”  
“And her vitals…?”  
He looked at his charts and then back to the monitors.  
“Shockingly stable for someone under this amount of physical stress.”  
“Huh. Sounds like someone we know.”

A woman came into view as I heard her speak. She was beautiful and red-headed, exuding a deceiving sense of innocence.

“W-who are you all? Where am I?”  
The brunette man stayed starring upwards, jotting a series of numbers down on a chart.  
“I…I don’t know what’s happening, but these waves seem to be…multiplying? I’m seeing extra lines here.” He said, gesturing towards the screens with his pen.  
“How is that possible?”  
“It seems as if a clot of energy… _heat_ …is dispersing itself forward…throughout her entire body…”

I looked up to view a monitor displaying a full-length map of my body. As the man spoke, the color on the graph faded to red and became much more exuberant. It started at the base of my skull and trickled down into my center like spider webs.

The blonde man came closer to me, speaking with a sudden rush in the cantor of his voice, “Anna, do you know the meaning of this?”  
“I-…I don’t k-know…”

As if on cue, a turquoise glow began to form around me, a gleam of light slowly lifting off my skin and vibrating rapidly. I shut my eyes tightly as the light brightened and the feeling inside me grew in intensity.

“What in the Hell is that??” I heard a different voice exclaim.

Another short, brunette man came around the corner. The hair on his face was neatly trimmed and a circular apparatus was planted in the very center of his chest. His face felt familiar to me, but I wasn’t entirely sure why.

The warmth of a hand came to curl around the base of my wrist in feeble attempt to calm the escalation of my sporadic energy.

The blonde one.

In an instant, he pulled away, hissing out as the light that radiated off of me singed the tender skin of his palm.

“Her skin. It’s hot. I-It’s… _burning_.”  
“Oh my God, Steve, your palm…”

Steve looked down at the inside of his hand, his pores exhaling weaves of grey smoke. The skin was reddening in an instant and beginning to blister over.

“Jesus Christ.”  
“Here, quick, wrap it.” The girl voiced, handing over a moistened paper towel.

The injured man looked questioningly over at me, his eyebrows furiously knotting together as he backed a single step away.

It was then that the fear in the room grew.

I swallowed the lump that had quickly formed in my throat, willing to calm myself down.  
“She’s like a human torch.”  
“She’s a witch.”  
“No,” A young woman just about my age came over to meet me, “A mutant.”

All eyes turned her way as she spoke with conviction. She looked at me unblinkingly, her pupils turning into saucers as she continued on.

“I’ve seen this energy…I _have_ this energy…it lives inside of me and it lives inside of her.” The girl murmured, her delicate hand hovering just over my forearm.  
Steve grabbed a quick hold of the girl’s shoulder and pulled her back, “No, Wanda. This is different.”

“Okay, whatever this ‘thing’ is, it’s clearly a threat to ALL of us…Hell, it could be another threat to humanity!”  
“Well, we don’t know that for sure.”  
“She _burnt_ you when you touched her, Steve.”  
“Tony’s right. She is a threat. The only way to know we’re safe, to know that EVERYONE is safe is to-“  
“Son of a bitch! She’s just a kid, you guys, we can’t just kill her!” Steve voiced as he pressed the cloth firmly into his hand, the darks of his eyes sharpening into daggers.

I had hurt this man terribly, and yet, he didn’t hesitate to stand up for me when my life was on the line. Because of that, I made a spur of the moment decision to trust him. I wasn't sure how far it would get me in the long run, but with no one else to turn to, it was the only sense of hope I had left.

The man named Tony stepped forward, a strong finger pressing furiously into the center of Steve’s chest. As he spoke, his voice darkened.

“Rogers…don’t go telling _me_ what’s right for us. I went through the ends of the earth to make sure we’d all be standing here today. I saw Armageddon and came back alive. I knew I’d be damned if I couldn’t make it back to my wife and daughter. Now, this pretty, young girl finds her way into your lonely, little heart, and all the work we put into saving the damn world is all for not? I’m not doing this again, Steve. I absolutely refuse.”

The room was filled with a stunned silence. It clung in the air like the heat that refused to leave my aching body. The man with the glasses piped up for a moment, splitting the tension.

“Her levels are subsiding slightly, perhaps enough to get a sedative into her. If we calm her down, maybe we can reason with her and a major situation can be averted.”  
He walked over to a solid white drawer and searched through its various contents.  
“I created this serum to calm myself down instantaneously, but it was too strong for me or even The Other Guy to take. It nearly killed the both of us.”  
The man came closer to me, wielding a tiny syringe, a vile-looking neon liquid bubbled inside the center of the capsule.

“Please…please no…not again…” I choked out, tears beginning to pour down my cheeks as my body began to quake uncontrollably.  
“What will it do to her? It won’t kill her, will it?”  
“If this energy, this light, this heat, whatever you wanna call it, circulating throughout her system hasn’t destroyed her entire body by now, this certainly won’t.”

My body pressed into the metal table in attempt to sink through it. I wiggled back and forth, panic swelling.

“Don’t touch me! Get away from me!"

A surge of energy radiated from my skin again, this time, shooting off the walls and causing the shelves to break off from their hinges and the glass in the room to shatter. I could hear the beeping of the machines speed as my body was put under more stress. The sweat on my forehead puddled and dripped as the heat hit all at once, shocking my system. I cried out in agony, unable to control the feeling that burned deep inside me.

“Everyone, stay back!”  
“Someone grab a hold of her!”  
“Are you _crazy_??”  
“No one touch her! She’s too dangerous!”

Another surge passed through my veins. A pin-sized thread of light hit the red-headed girl, piercing through her arm like a heated knife through butter. She stumbled back, air escaping her. She cried out, grabbing a strong hold of her arm as she propelled her body as far as she could away from me.

“Nat!”  
“I’m okay…I just-…I think-…my arm…it’s broken…” She spoke quickly between shallow gasps of breath, assessing the damage.  
“Just stick the needle in her, Bruce, damn it!"

Another surge. The machines pushed away from me, bursting at the seams and igniting in a wild series of sparks.

The man, Bruce, came forward, lifting his arm quickly and coming down to meet my skin between a quick pulse of silence between surges.

He stuck me.

Instantly, I felt the light sink back into my skin, cooling my body and stabilizing my core. I breathed deeply as the sedative settled into my chest, pressing against my lungs. The skin above my eyes gained weight and forced them to close.

_Darkness._


	2. Chapter 2

A moment like this is painful to remember, but impossible to forget. You could drill a hole in your head and fill it with battery acid and the stains will still haunt your conscious. Not even a sedative could rip me away from my own personal nightmare for a moment. No peace.

I was wheeled down a lengthy, dark hallway by a nurse dressed in a cream-colored trench coat. My wrists and bare ankles were tightly leather bound to the mattress. I passed by a series of rooms, more like the cells of a prison than the comfort of an institution. I was moved to a claustrophobic’s worst nightmare. The room was undersized, lit yellow, cold as ice, and smelt like a stale basement left unused for decades.

A much older man approached my side, a clipboard hanging under the wing of his left arm. He bent down beside me, his breath reeking of cigar smoke as he spoke with an accent I couldn’t quite discern.

“Anna Jennings, do you know why you’re here?” He asked me.  
My eyes avoided his, looking down to stare at the dirtied concrete floor, “Because I’m unstable…”  
The man nodded quaintly, “Correct.”  
“Will it hurt?”  
“It might.”  
“Will it fix me?”  
“It might.”

I bit the center of my lip hard enough to gash it with my teeth and draw blood as the man scanned his eyes over what seemed to be a medical chart.  
“A variety of colorful disorders...severe panic, extreme incompetence, hypersensitivity, obsessive thoughts, tendencies to lash out in anger…”

The doctor placed a callused hand against my chin and squeezed my cheeks inward, “With the amount of anxious energy your very being holds, it’s a wonder why you haven’t killed yourself, Anna.”

I swallowed hard, shaking my head to rid the dirty man away from my face.

“Now,” He began, moving towards multiple IV bags and wheeling them over to me. The sound set my nerves immediately on edge, the squeaking much like nails on a chalkboard. Shrill and defiant.

  
“The liquid in these bags, injected by needle, will travel through your body, deep into your nerve endings, and up into your brain. It’ll cause your mutant DNA to attack the unhealthy cells inside. Hopefully, it’ll cure you…and if we’re lucky, there’s something miraculous to be gained here…” He spoke almost menacingly as he organized the supplies.

“What could I gain?”

  
He stopped for a moment, turning away from me briefly as he stared longingly at the large needle between the tips of his fingers.

”Abilities beyond your very comprehension.”

My breath caught in my throat as he turned back around, the needle still in hand. He approached me, a small smirk on his pursed, wrinkled lips. He reached out and unfastened my arms and legs.

“Lie on your stomach.” He ordered.

I did as I was told. He strapped my body back into place as multiple nurses filed in, one after the other. Without a warning, the man had two nurses hold down the base of both arms and legs as he stuck needles into the backs of each. I winced only slightly, the pressure of their manhandling bothering me more than the sharp pain. The old man began speaking in a different language as he motioned for more nurses to poke and prod at my fragile body.

“Just a pinch.” He noted now.

The much larger needle, the one held by him, was stuck slowly into the center of my spine. I shut my eyes tightly as the cold metal was skewered through me. The sudden hit to my nerves caused both my hands and feet to go numb, the feeling of static electricity coursing through my ligiments.

The man reached up and began to flip the stopper on each bag, allowing the liquid to drain and fall down the series of tubes now attached to me.

All at once, it hit me from every angle.

The pain was excruciating. It ripped through me like a raging bull, horns blazing full-throttle through me. I looked down, the thin skin of my arms instantly turning blue as my muscles pulsed and cramped in complete anguish. The veins in my forearm thickened as they pushed the liquid deeper into my foundation. I screamed with my face down into the mattress, completely unable to hold back from the sensation that burrowed deeply. My eyes knotted together as my throat grew instantly horse, the taste of copper and blood on my tongue.

Through the pain, I heard his voice.

“Ne vedem pe partea cealalta.”

_I’ll see you on the other side._

-

I was flat against the coldness of pale concrete. I couldn’t see as a thick smog hazed my vision. I was no longer in a building, but outside amongst the grass and trees, most of which were charred to the ground. Only a few were left, clinging to life, fire blazing from the dying branches.

I sat up, my body thoroughly aching as I turned my head to each side to inspect my surroundings. The building was no longer standing. In fact, the building was no longer. A ring of blackened soot blanketed the open area. Not a single soul could've survived this, but I wasn't about to go looking for bodies.

What went wrong?

Just then, I felt an unrecognizable warmth spread through my skin. It was captivating, but strange and almost inhuman.

I caught a glimpse of light out of the corner of my eye. As I looked down, I noticed a turquoise glow hovering over my entire body. The energy jutted out of me, begging to be detected. The breath in my lungs blew out all at once as I lifted a trembling hand to my face. The light shot out like a bullet in a gun, striking a tree and causing it to collapse in on itself until it was no longer there. I was shell-shocked. Unable to move. Unable to react.

In a moment of weakness, I did all I could do.

I stood.  
I ran.  
I didn’t look back.

I would _never again_ look back.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke from my coma in the startling comfort of a king-sized bed. I sat up straight and rubbed the crusts of sleep from my eyes. I was no longer forced down. I was free, wrapped loosely in the thickness of a cottony blanket. The room smelt warm and inviting, giving me feelings I never imagined I’d be able to feel again in my lifetime.

That’s when I saw him. The man with the blonde hair. Steve, his name was. He sat in a small chair positioned next to me, his eyes stuck staring.

“Hey.” I voiced meekly.  
“Hey.” He responded, straightening his posture immediately upon hearing my voice.  
I looked around, trying my best to retrace my thoughts.  
“W-what happened? Who are you? Why am I here?” I asked with very little hesitation.

Steve came over slowly. It was then that I noticed the thick, white bandage wrapped tightly around his hand. It all came flooding back to me. A headache began to form from the crook of my neck as I thought about the energy I expelled in the medical room. I could still hear the ringing of the shattering glass.

Steve sat at the edge of my bed, just near my feet. I curled my legs inward to make room for him, my knees kissing my chest. He ran a hand across his bare face before answering.

“A blast just outside the compound signaled us to go and see what had happened. There you were, lying in the center of the field, the grass around you had been burnt black. We didn’t know if you had fallen from the sky or if you were attacked, but you looked to be near death. You were pale. Cold with sweat. It was my idea to take you in. You looked far too young and innocent to be a threat to us.”

“I…I hurt you.” I said, my voice wavering as tears threatened to fall from the pool of my eyes, “I hurt her. Badly.”  
Steve sighed deeply, his chest deflating fully, “Her arm is broken, but she’ll be okay. Nothing that can’t be fixed.”  
I swallowed hard and avoided his eyes as he got up on his feet and placed the back of his good hand against my forehead.  
“Your temperature has gone down significantly.”

  
I looked up at Steve, savoring the feeling of a gentle hand against my skin for once. It brought me back to childhood, to the comfort my mother.

  
“I-I’m sorry.” I said, shaking his hand away from me.  
Steve shook his head, “Don’t apologize for something clearly beyond your control.”  
I nodded. A breath passed between the two of us.  
“I’m Steve…Steve Rogers.”  
“Anna.” I replied, “Jennings.”  
“Who are you, Anna…?”

I blinked, my brain searching for the right words to say but falling short. I began to pick at the dirtied seem of my ripped jeans.

  
“It’s a lot to rattle off right now…complicated…painful…I’m not sure if I want to delve into it…”  
Steve nodded as he began moving away from me. He cleared his throat gently.

“We’re going to have to keep you here until further notice. Safety protocol.”

My eyes widened at his suggestion, which seemed more like a subtle demand than a thing I could try and sway him against.  
“B-but the others...they wanted me _dead_ …”  
Steve shook his head, finding his way back over to me again, “They’re afraid of what you’re capable of. See, we’re still recovering from what happened when-“  
“The _dusting_.” I responded almost too quickly.  
His eyes forcefully met mine. He chewed his bottom lip and nodded.  
“A conversation for another time,” He voiced, motioning towards the door, “I’d like to show you around. I think you need a decent meal and a drink of water. You're weak.”

I agreed, swinging my tired legs off the edge of the bed.  
“Do you need help?” He asked, quickly hurrying over to my side.  
“No, I think I-“ My knees buckled underneath me, but his good arm caught my small frame just in time.  
“Yes?” He asked, looking down at me.  
“Yes.” I stated sheepishly.  
As I looked up at him, he smiled for the first time. His subtle grin was tender, warm, and crinkled the skin of his eyes. It looked fearless. _He_ was fearless.

My first true sign of hope.


	4. Chapter 4

Steve led me to a gorgeous open kitchen and sat me down at a tall bar stool. I had grabbed a throw blanket from the room I had woken up in and held it nice and snug around my cold body.  
“This is our kitchen area. There’s one on this floor and one on the first floor.”  
“Are there other people in this building?” I asked, suddenly nervous.  
“No, completely vacant. No employed workers. This is sort of used as a safe space for us. We own it. We take care of it. It's ours. It has bathrooms with showers and bedrooms to sleep in. I guess you could say it's almost like a hotel."

I exhaled and nodded, signaling him to continue.

“The coffee machine is right here, if you’re into that sort of thing. Uhhh. Stove, microwave, fridge, and dishwasher.” He stated, pointing to each object.  
“Can I have a glass of water, please?”  
“Of course you can. Would you like something to eat as well?” He asked, cocking his head to the side, clearly eager to please his guest.

The idea of food almost made me ill, considering the fact that I hadn’t had a meal in God knows how long, but given how weak I felt, I knew that a little something would do me good.

“A sandwhich, maybe? Grilled cheese?”  
Steve nodded.  
“Um…where is the restroom?”  
“Oh, first door on your left. Just down that hallway.” He motioned as he began to rummage through the fridge.  
“Thank you.” I nodded gently as I got up from my place, making sure to steady myself before moving on my way.

I slowly padded around, my bare feet slapping against the cold hardwood floor.  
As I walked down the hall, I noticed various pictures, framed and lining most of the wall space. They seemed to be family photos. People I didn’t recognize.

That was until a group of six individuals caught my eye. They stood in a row, gently smiling lips on worn out faces. Steve stood in the very center, another man’s arm hanging around his broad shoulder. The short brunette with the neatly trimmed facial hair stood beside him. It was then, like a wave, that it hit where I was and who I was with.

When I reentered the kitchen, Steve’s back was now turned away from me. He worked meticulously over the stove to craft the perfect sandwich. I could smell the bread burning, but I paid it no mind.

"The Avengers. Captain America.” I stated in shock.  
Steve turned back around, a small smile on his face, his eyes lighting up, “That we are, and well, I _used_ to be. I’m technically retired now. Gave the shield to my buddy Sam.”  
“Some luxury retirement home for a 90-year-old man..." I joked, smirking now.  
He chuckled as he slid a plate over to me.  
“I knew that man’s face looked familiar…Tony Stark…” I pondered, recalling the hostile man in the medical room from earlier. I sat back down and faced the grilled cheese sandwich graciously prepared for me.  
Steve nodded, “I’m surprised you didn’t catch on sooner. People say I have an identifiable face.”  
I shrugged, “A part of me knew, but a bigger part of me refused to believe it.”  
“I’m sorry about the sandwich, it’s a little-"  
“Burnt?”  
Steve chuckled lightly, “Well, I may be good at saving the world, but am I the world’s greatest chef? Not exactly.”

I took a small but savory bite. The bread was overdone, but the gooey insides made up for the fact. I closed my eyes, tilted my head back, and moaned as my taste buds danced.  
“This is SO good. Thank you.”  
He smiled and gave me a single nod.

“Where is Tony…?” I asked suddenly between chews.  
Steve propped himself up in preparation to answer.  
“He…uh…he left…” He stuttered slightly before continuing.

I put down my sandwich and stared at the man in front of me.

“After what happened in the medical room earlier this evening, things got heated between the two of us…he said he wants nothing to do with this, so after expressing a few strong words with me, he told us his decision was final. He plans to move away with Pepper and his daughter Morgan for the benefit of their safety. Out of the country, was what he said before he stormed out.”

Nausea hit me hard, climbing up from the deepest depths of my stomach. Steve recognized the dramatic switch in my expression and reached forward to grab a reassuring hold of my hand. His thumb ran a soft pattern over my knuckles.  
“None of this is your fault, Anna. Tony, he’s insatiable. He gets a single taste of danger and is never fully satisfied unless things are resolved. He wanted to end this for good...he wanted you gone…but I refused it.”  
“Why?”  
He pulled his hand away from mine for a moment and pealed his eyes away from me, “Because...something in you is different...you aren't what they think...you aren’t bad.”

All my life, I imagined what it would be like to hear that simple string of words. To know that, to someone, they were true. That I wasn't a disaster or a basket case. That I was just a normal girl...young, full of life, full of potential and a purpose.

I knew; however, that as long as these powers lived within me, this could never be my reality.

I pushed the remainder of my grilled cheese away, the china scraping against the granite counter. Tears bordered my lids as I got up to leave the room.

  
“Well, I'm sorry, but you clearly don’t know me.”


	5. Chapter 5

A few hours had passed. I went back to the room I had woken up in and kept the door locked. No one knocked for me, not even Steve. After wallowing past the point of drying out my eyes, I decided to do a little self-care. A shower seemed nice right about now, and I could definitely use one.

The water from the faucet kissed my skin beautifully. It slid down my bare body, and I savored every bit of its warmth. I relished in the feeling of being alone for once, in my own element, completely unafraid of myself. I had always dreamt of what it would be like to be a fish in the great open ocean, carelessly floating along. Life just seemed easier to live that way. It seemed easier than whatever this was.

When I hopped out, I noticed a set of clothes neatly folded and slid under the door; a knee-length, black dress with buttons down the front and a fresh pair of warm, wool socks. I took them and put them on after drying off. A perfect fit.

As I cautiously opened the door, I was immediately greeted by Steve, who must’ve been waiting for me to get out.  
“I heard the shower running and decided to give you a fresh pair of clothes to wear. Those are from Wanda. She said you’re more than welcome to borrow her clothes whenever you’d like.”  
I smiled sweetly, feeling the soft fabric between my fingers and swaying my hips.  
“Well, it fits like a glove. Tell her ‘thank you’ for me?”  
“I won’t have to.”

As Steve pulled away from the frame of the door, Wanda entered and greeted me with warm smile on her face.

  
“Hi, I’m Wanda Maximoff.” She stated, extending her dainty hand out to meet mine.  
I smiled back and took it, “Anna Jennings, thank you for the dress.”  
“It’s no problem at all. Anything to make you feel more comfortable here.”

I nodded slowly, being suddenly reminded of this seemingly hostage situation.

Awkward silence surrounded the three of us, Steve taking a moment to look up at the ceiling, which seemed a lot more interesting than the immediate lack of conversation taking place.

“Steve?” Wanda piped up, tapping him on the shoulder.  
“Hm?” He voiced, snapping his head back down to us.  
“Would you mind leaving Anna and I alone for a bit?”  
Steve looked back and forth between the two of us, waiting for the ‘okay’ from me. I nodded.  
“Oh, yeah, of course.”

Steve made his way down the hall as Wanda pushed the door in, leaving it open just a crack. She moved over to sit on the edge of the bed.

  
“I apologize for him. He gets kinda awkward in the face of conflict.”  
“Well, the ‘awkward’ certainly doesn’t show on the battlefield.”  
“Conflict with _women_.” Wanda emphasized with a petty smirk.  
I exhaled a laugh, “Well, you’re not wrong _there_.”  
“Come. Sit.” She ordered, waving her hand over to me.

  
As I came to sit by her side, she immediately placed her hand against the back of mine.

  
“Listen…Anna...I was in the same boat as you once…I was held as a captive for a while in order to benefit the safety of others as well as my own. Looking back on it, being trapped behind walls was worth every minute. It allowed me time to get to know my powers and work with them instead of against them."

I lifted my hand away from hers and stared at the inside of my palm for a moment, imagining the energy coursing through me. I had to take what she had to say, but with a grain of salt.

“Wanda, I really don’t think the same could be true for me. You _saw_ what I did in that room. I destroyed the place. I hurt multiple people."  
“So what?” She responded simply.  
“I’ve… _killed_ before.” I said with edge, swallowing hard and wincing at the words that fell from my lips.  
“As have I.”

  
I turned away from her, avoiding the uncomfortable feeling that began to bubble up and boil over.

  
“Listen, it might take time, lots of it, but I know you and I are similar…almost TOO similar…”  
I quickly shook my head, as if wiping away the thought, “We’re not. I’m telling you.”  
“ _Anna_.” She spoke rather harshly now.

  
I turned my head back to her. The look in her eyes was fierce and disapproving of my self-deprecation.

“You're not as alone as you think you are.”

The sentence was simple, yet it held an overwhelming emotional weight that burrowed deep within me. It put a strain on my chest and a rock in my throat that I couldn’t ignore or push down any longer. My lip began to quiver and tears burned the slate over my eyes. They fell gracefully and inaudibly.

I felt Wanda’s arm slowly come around me, pulling me closer to her side. It felt awkward to cry in the arms of a stranger, but I couldn’t help but give in to the gesture.

For the first time in my existence, I guess I truly wasn’t alone.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, Bruce met me in the kitchen during breakfast and introduced himself. He shook my hand vigorously, words pouring from his anxious mouth. He told me how lucky I was to have survived the incident the day before and that he was interested in doing a few medical scans. I was extremely hesitant at first, but he promised it wouldn’t be invasive. Slowly but surely, I was beginning to warm up to my surroundings. It was easy to say that, despite everything, I trusted him too. He, much like Wanda, knew damn well what it was like to lose control. He meant well in every aspect of the word, and right now, I’d take what I could get.

He had checked a few of my vitals before moving on to brain scans and x-rays, both of which were over in seconds flat. As he finished me off, checking my blood pressure one last time, his eyes became fixated on me, almost as if he were in a trace-like state.

“Wow…” He said, the word coming out in almost a whisper.  
“What?” I asked.  
“I-...I’ve just never seen anything like this before…” He spoke softly, almost to himself as he finished pumping the blood pressure cuff around my arm.  
I turned my head to the side like a lost dog, “What is it?”  
Bruce put his finger to his lips and chin, taking his glasses off with the other hand.  
“Your vitals are in pristine condition. No signs of internal or external trauma. Not even a scratch on your body.”

I shook the cuff off my arm as he unraveled it. He placed it on the hanger on the wall and put the stethoscope back around his neck. He ran the palm of his hand along the skin of his face in complete confusion as he returned to me.

“You seemed to have taken quite a lot of damage yesterday, but your body says otherwise. Even Wanda can’t expel that much energy at one time. The sheer force of it would practically tear her body in half.”

  
I shrugged my shoulders subtly, my eyes finding their way down to my feet which swung back and forth with a mind of their own.

  
“She was right about you. You two are a lot alike…but _you_ …you’re…” He stopped suddenly, as if weary of saying the words.  
I looked up to find his eyes burrowing deeply into me, “I’m what?” I asked.

The quiet that proceeded was enough to hear a pin drop on a cushion in another room. It was almost tormenting.

“Stronger.” He muttered.

In an instant, I began to scoot my body off the table, eager to escape the situation. I knew better than to allow myself even the slightest chance to become vulnerable. Bruce placed his hand over mine to stop my advances.

“Anna, I don’t know how you’ve done it, but you’ve somehow healed yourself from the inside out. This is a rarity that I’ve never seen it in all my years of work. It’s…astonishing.” He said, his voice low, almost poignant.  
“I…I don’t know what to say…I just-“

A soft knock sounded at the doorway, ripping Bruce’s attention away from me just in time.

“Oh, Nat, hey.” He spoke suddenly, his eyes moving in the direction of the doorway.

I looked over to find Nat awkwardly hovering. I bit down on my lip, my eyes immediately fixated on the thick cast that went from her shoulder all the way down to her wrist. My brain took me back to what had happened just a day ago and I couldn’t shake it when I looked at her. It was a pure punch to the gut to see the damage I had done.

“Hey, Brucey.”  
“Nat, this is-“  
“Anna.” She said, filling in the blank, “I know. Steve told me.”

I couldn’t quite determine the expression on her face, whether it was of anger or disgust, but either way, it petrified me. I didn’t know what to make of this woman, and I didn’t know if she, like the others, could be equally as reliable. The ever present wildcard.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you’d be busy.” She said, pushing a stray red hair behind her ear with her good hand.  
“Nono, come in. I was just finishing up. I just have to go and grab something real quick. Is it alright if I go and-?”  
Nat nodded, a mini smile forming on her pursed lips.  
“I’ll be right back, okay?”

  
I nodded. He left, but hesitantly, looking back at us as he did.

I sat on the medical table, legs unmoving as I occupied my mind with other things. The tiles on the floor kept me in engaged for a little while.

  
“Hey.”  
The warm sound of the woman’s voice broke me away, but I didn’t dare to look at her face.

Silence.

Nat shuffled her way into the room, sticking her hand out for a handshake. I peeked up for a fraction of a second.  
“Natasha Romanoff. You’re Anna Jennings. C’mon. I don’t bite.”  
My eyes finally peeled away from the tiles on the floor as I mustered up the courage to grab a hold of her hand, shaking it ever so gently.  
“You took quite the spill yesterday.” She stated simply as her eyes traveled up and down my body.  
I exhaled a laugh, “ _I_ took a spill…?”  
The corner of her mouth pinched together as she turned her head to view the cast she donned, “Well, anything broken can be put back together again.”

My two front teeth found their way to the center of my lip, chewing at it anxiously. The silence in the room returned with a vengeance.

“Listen, talk to me or not, the choice is ultimately yours, but what happened in there…it wasn’t your fault and I don’t blame you for it.”  
“But I-“  
She put her hand up, a signal for me to stop before I could even begin, “No need. I’ve heard it all before. You’re young, you’re afraid, and Steve brought you in to protect you. You’re safe here and I’m not angry. Quit telling yourself that I am."  
I nodded, taking in her words and thinking them through.  
“It isn’t every day that you stare death in face and come back with something as simple as a broken arm. I guess I should consider this a warm welcome.” She said, a small laugh falling from her lips.

  
I hung my head low again, desperately wishing to disappear. I felt a heat begin to build inside of me, but I didn’t give in. For the first time, I refused.

Not here, Anna. Not now.

  
Nat saw the expression on my face turn to pain and grabbed a tender hold of my hand, stroking the skin on the back of it in a comforting manner.

“Hey. We’ve got you, kid.”


	7. Chapter 7

The days spent in the compound past fleetingly. It was as if the sun rose with the moon and I was living on autopilot. The episode between Steve and I still hadn’t been entirely addressed. I kept to myself mostly, but I came to find that Steve was always just around the corner, looming over me. He wanted to make sure I had everything I needed in order to feel at least somewhat at home. It wasn’t suffocating, but the uncomfortable energy between us needed desperately to be resolved before it drove me to absolute insanity.

There was something about Steve Rogers that I never quite considered. Wanda was right about his aversion to conflict, especially when it came to women. On the surface, the man seemed like he had it all figured out, but when it came to practically everything else, he was lost. I could see it in his eyes every time we crossed paths.

A few nights had passed before I got up enough courage to take the step to confront him.

“Steve…?” I asked gently, rapping my knuckles against the side of his door.  
He was lying on his bed, a sketchbook at his chest as his wrist moved effortlessly over the paper. He looked up.  
“Yes, Anna?”  
Being immediately put on the spot, I didn’t quite know where to begin, “I…uh…wanted to talk to you…”  
He alerted his posture and put the pad and pencil down, his baby blues continuing to stare straight at me.  
“What about?”  
“I…” I stood, unable to move from the frame of the door, my feet stuck fast into the carpet.  
“Come here.” He said simply, motioning with his hand for me to come and join him.

I licked the skin of my lip in anticipation of the conversation that was about to unfold. I sat cross-legged on the couch positioned next to the bed, and Steve sat with his legs dangling off of the bed right in front of me.

“I apologize for blowing up on you the other day…I know, deep down, you were just trying to help…I just…” I wrung my hands together, a small sweat forming between them.  
Steve interjected as the words from my mouth refused to continue, “There’s no need to apologize, sweetheart.”  
“I know…but it’s what’s right.”  
Steve nodded solemnly.  
“It’s just that…I’ve never been known for being ‘not bad’, you know? Before I was bestowed with this…power...a part of me still wasn’t truly normal. It cost me most, if not, _all_ of my childhood.”  
A quiet smile formed on Steve’s lips as he spoke, “Before ‘Captain America’, I was an asthmatic with a weak heart and little to no body mass. You could leave me out in the smallest rain storm and I’d blow away in the wind like a damn kite.”

I tried my best to suppress a giggle at the visual he gave me, but failed. A moment later, I was brought back to Earth, my lips pressing into a tight line.

“I spent most of _my_ childhood sick to the bone.” He went on to say, eyes glossing over, “Flu type viruses weren’t hard to come by in my time. I grew accustomed to them, and I very nearly lost my life due to my poor immunity.”

“Your case is different, Steve. You’ve been cured of all your aliments. I, on the other hand…”

Steve’s hands folded together quietly as he waited for me to go on.  
“I think you deserve to hear the truth. The whole truth. About where I come from and who I am.” I let the words tumble out as my eyes avoided his.

Steve’s posture straightened immediately. I looked down into the space between my legs in my lap, my mind beginning to race. I had prepared this speech for hours, so there was no need to be as hesitant as I was.

Just rip it off like a band aid, Anna. He would respond however he saw fit. One way or another, it needed to be discussed and there was no going back on it now.

“I was the result of an experiment. My father…well…he never took to me. I was your typical anxious child, but my mental illnesses worsened over time…anxiety, OCD…you name it really, and I had it. My father tried to beat me into submission. He didn’t want to have an incompetent child. He was a rich, successful man.”  
“Mental illness doesn’t equal incompetence.” Steve interjected for a moment, his face hardening.  
“I see now that that man is purely malevolent…” I said, the words hissing out between my teeth.

“He took me to a facility where he said I’d be ‘fixed’, and at that point, I was willing to try anything to please him…anything to get him to stop with the abuse. They took me to an old, run-down building, practically away from all civilization. They placed an IV in my spine. They stuck me everywhere they could.” I said, motioning towards the permanent bruise marks in the creases of my elbows and the backs of my knees.

“They injected me with some sort of serum…much like you, I guess.” I said, my head nonchalantly motioning towards Steve.

“When the pain got to be too much for me, I guess that meant the ‘transformation’ was complete…I blew up…literally…the entire facility burnt to the ground. Nothing left but ash. I killed them…all of them…”

Steve’s eyes widened slightly as the words rushed out.

“…Including my father…” I murmured, my eyes returning back to my lap as my heart began to beat hard against the frame of my chest.

A large lump formed at the base of my throat. Not once had I ever said the words before, and as they escaped from my mouth, I wanted desperately to push them back in and swallow them down.

_“They’ll take good care of you here, Anna Lee.” My father had said, placing a grotesque hand against the arch of my cheek._   
_“W-when I get out…will you be here…?” I asked, my voice as small as a child’s._   
_The wrinkles around his lips were emphasized by a taunting smile, as he said, “I will…and you’ll be BETTER.”_   
_My teeth began to chatter, a hallow forming in the pit of my stomach as his voice flourished in one ear and out the other._   
_“Yes, sir…” I uttered._   
_“If I find that you aren’t, you and I both know they won’t be the ones to blame…”_   
_The words hung in the air as he reached down to grip my wrist, his fingers digging into the soft skin._

I’ll never forget my father’s eyes as he looked down at me. They were dark and demeaning. I was in the hands of someone willing to do whatever it physically took to change me, and he took pleasure in that fact. He felt powerful as he saw me so powerless…and that’s what made him so evil.

“Did you run?”

  
I exhaled deeply, shaking myself away for only a moment, “There was no other option. I feared myself. I feared what would be done to me had authorities found out how the fire in the woods really happened.”  
“Where did you go?”  
“Away.” I responded, “Under cover in the city, fending for myself as best as I could.”  
Steve took a moment to himself, clearly taking every bit of information in.  
“When did this happen, Anna…?” He asked, clearly setting up for the conversation I was secretly dreading.  
“Well…I’ve calculated it…and...” My eyebrows furrowed as my breath hitched, fearful of saying it in so many words.

  
I closed my eyes, centering myself for a moment before continuing.

  
“When half of the world was snapped out of existence…that was when I was changed…”  
“Did you suspect something had happened when you fled to the city?”  
I nodded slowly, the nightmare returning like a vivid landscape in my mind, “The streets were bare…cars were wrecked left and right...people were terrified, screaming even…I didn’t know what to think…”

My eyes were unblinking as I spoke.

“A few years went by, and despite the event, life proceeded, and I tried my best to proceed with it. I was never caught. Never questioned. People paid me no mind.”  
“So…you’ve been alone for a while…”

Steve’s voice was different this time, closer to that of a whisper, and I could see the wheels in his head turning rapidly.

  
I nodded again.

  
“Yes. A while.” I repeated.  
“You were on the verge of death when we found you. What happened?”  
“I stole as much as I could money-wise from our old house, but I had to be quick about it, and what I was able to salvage diminished rather quickly. As I remained jobless, moving from motel to motel, it became harder to live decently. Near the end, I found myself rummaging through the trashcans of grocery stores, desperate for any level of sustenance to get me by for the day.”

I was immediately taken back to the amount of hunger that led me to eat a blackened banana peel from the road one night. The recollection of it caused my stomach to growl, so I held it with two hands in attempt to silence it.

“I don’t know what it was that led me to the woods the day you found me. The walls were closing in, the corners of my vision were darkening, and an overwhelming weakness numbed my entire body. I thought that was it. I fell down, energy shooting from me one last time before I blacked out. The last thought that crossed my somewhat conscious mind was that I was, in fact, dying.”

Steve slowly stood from his place, finding his footing on the floor and moving over to me. He bent down, getting on his knees and meeting me at eyelevel. He didn’t say a word as he placed a warm hand against my leg. His thumb stroked along my pant leg as he hung his head low.

I didn’t know what to think at first, but I simultaneously felt my body relax under his palm. A wavering hand came to find its way over top of his. In response to my touch, he looked up. The pain in his eyes was tell-tale.

He swallowed hard, tears threatening his eyes but refusing to fall. His breathing was ragged as his chest heaved. I didn't know why or how, but the fear ingrained in my brain suddenly melted away when I looked at him.

The pain from my past was no longer at the forefront of my mind.

Someone's heart was genuinely breaking for me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was an absolute BLAST to craft. I hope you're enjoying the blossoming relationship between Steve and Anna, as well as the depth of Anna's character. Being an anxiety-sufferer myself, creating a character that uses the chaotic energy of their mental illnesses as their power speaks volumes. I hope you’re all enjoying my take on it. This is unlike anything I have ever written before, so comments and likes are greatly appreciated!  
> -K xx


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